Tragedy and Irish Literature: Synge, O'Casey, Beckett [Hardcover]

In Tragedy and Irish Literature, McDonald considers the culture of suffering, loss, and guilt in the work of J.M. Synge, Sean O'Casey and Samuel Beckett. He applies external ideas of tragedy to the three dramatists and also discerns particular sorts of tragedy within their own work. While alert to the real differences between the three writers, the book also traces common themes and preoccupations. It identifies a conflict between form and content, between heightened language and debased reality as the hallmark of Irish tragedy.Introduction: The Loss of Tragic Value and the Value of Tragic Loss A Gallous Story or a Dirty Deed?: J.M.Synge and the Tragedy of Evasion Delusion and Disillusionment: Sean O'Casey's Early Drama and the Tragedy of Meliorism Beyond Tragedy: Samuel Beckett and the Art of Confusion Afterword

'Although [McDonald's] choice of Synge, O'Casey, and Beckett is made for reasons of contrast as well as comparison, all three...just as they react against the mythic values of the Celtic Revival, react against the sort of ritualistic mythology that transforms failure into success...McDonald's study both yields insights into what definitions of tragedy say about the society that makes them, and...uses the exigencies and nuances of tragic theory as a way of casting new light on three distinct oeuvres'. - Sinead Mooney, Modern Language Review